In a three-page demand notice sent to City Hall on Friday, an attorney said Chief Mike Chitwood had no reason to call his client a "slumlord" last month.

LYDA LONGASTAFF WRITER

DAYTONA BEACH — The owner of several area appliance stores, through his attorney, is demanding that Police Chief Mike Chitwood apologize for remarks the chief made after a house the businessman owns was raided by narcotics investigators. Lawyer Sam Masters also wants the Police Department to pay for damages left behind at the Daytona Beach rental house owned by John Hinton on Westwood Drive. Hinton owns John's Appliance City stores in Volusia County. In a three-page demand notice sent to City Hall on Friday, Masters said Chitwood had no reason to call his client a "slumlord" last month. The attorney said Hinton also was offended because Chitwood said Hinton rents to drug dealers and gang members. "In Mr. Hinton's case, the Chief has finally gone too far," Masters said in his letter. "By attacking a reputable, respected and law-abiding business leader through the use of false statements and innuendoes, the Chief has exposed himself and the city to damages for defamation. "In this case, the statements made by the Chief were clearly outrageous and inexcusable," Masters wrote in his letter. But the police chief on Monday said he won't abide by Hinton's demands. "It ain't happening," Chitwood said. "If anything, he (Hinton) owes an apology for misleading the public after he said the occupants of that house were all good kids. "He also owes my officers an apology for saying that they sailed through the bedroom window," Chitwood said. "That's impossible. They're not trained for that in SWAT and their gear would never allow it." On Dec. 13 at 5 a.m., Daytona Beach narcotics investigators raided a rental house that Hinton owns in the 100 block of Westwood Drive. Police obtained the warrant after claiming they found traces of methamphetamine in the garbage outside the residence. Investigators initially searched the trash after receiving a tip there was drug activity inside the house, Chitwood said. The individual leasing the residence is Melinda McCune, 27, records show. McCune has no criminal record. Her boyfriend, however, 26-year-old Dustin Sanders, is a documented gang member and a felon who has served two stints in prison. In the search warrant affidavit, police also said Sanders is violent. A friend of Sanders' — Thomas Robinson, 27 — was also in the house the day of the raid. Robinson has also served time in prison. The eight-page affidavit for the warrant also includes a claim that McCune has a prescription for pain pills that she purchases from a "pill mill," and that Sanders sells from the (rental) house. The affidavit also claims that Sanders and another man intended to burglarize the homes of police officers so they could steal their Glock firearms. And, there also is a claim that Sanders is a "suspect in an unsolved homicide." The tips about the pills came from Daytona Beach Police Officer Donald Aldridge, who relayed them from an anonymous source, the affidavit states. The information concerning the homicide came from Daytona Beach Sgt. Scott Lee. Lee said he heard about the homicide connection from Sgt. Brian Henderson of the Volusia County Sheriff's Office, the affidavit shows. Sanders denies he had anything to do with a homicide. He said police are referring to a 2004 case when a former girlfriend hanged herself from a tree in DeLand. In a brief phone interview after the raid, Sanders said he is a former gang member. Chitwood meanwhile said the tips from Aldridge led police to check the trash at the residence on three different occasions. Members of the Crime Supression Team did not find any drugs the first time they searched the trash, but found traces of methamphetamine in the garbage the second and third times they looked through it, the affidavit states. They also found traces of marijuana. The courts have long held that police — or anyone else for that matter — are allowed to sift through an individual's garbage because once it is placed outside, the garbage is in the public domain. Hinton complained after the raid that police tore apart the inside of his rental house in search of a meth lab that was never found. The only drugs found in the house were a small amount of marijuana and two Valium pills. The businessman — known for humor-filled commercials that advertise his appliance and bedding stores — said investigators trashed the house, tearing doors off hinges and breaking windows. David Damore, the attorney representing Sanders and McCune, said police acted on a flimsy tip. In his letter to the city, Masters said police kicked in or damaged "virtually every door in the home, including the closet doors." "Contrary to the position of the Chief, police do not have an unfettered right to destroy someone's home simply because they have obtained a search warrant," Masters said in his letter. "Under the facts of this case, the police are responsible for the unnecessary damage to Mr. Hinton's home." However, if the destruction was needed to get the job done, police are not responsible, said one law professor who specializes in constitutional and criminal law. Bruce Jacob, dean emeritus and professor of law at Stetson University's law school, said police are not responsible for any damages if the destruction was necessary to carry out the purpose of the search warrant. Police could be responsible if the destruction was unnecessary. For example, if investigators could open a door by simply turning a knob, then it would be unnecessary to tear a door off of its hinges, Jacob said. The chief said the extent of damages left behind by his officers included a kicked-in front door, a damaged bathroom door and two broken windows. Chitwood said other doors inside the house were already damaged, but not by his officers. "Other doors were in place, but they had no pins in the doors," Chitwood said. "My officers did not do that." The chief said if the destruction done by his officers had been unnecessary, then police would own up to the mistake and issue a check. But he said that was not the case at Hinton's rental house. "I stand behind what we did. That SWAT team acted one thousand percent within the law," Chitwood said. "This whole thing with Sam Masters is a canard to take off the focus on the fact that he (Hinton) has gang members living in his house." While the property damage to Hinton's rental house was problematic, Masters said it "pales in comparison to the damages suffered by my client as a result of the Chief's baseless attack upon Mr. Hinton's character." Masters, in his letter to the city, provided the definition for a "slumlord," saying, "a slumlord is defined as a landlord who owns slum buildings, especially one who fails to maintain or improve the buildings and charges tenants exorbitant rents." "Even the slightest bit of background information would have revealed that Mt. Hinton's property was well kept and maintained," Masters added. All three people inside the residence — Sanders, McCune and Robinson — were arrested after the raid. Sanders was charged with resisting arrest with violence and possession of marijuana; Robinson was charged with possession of marijuana under 20 grams; and McCune was charged with possession of diazepam. In addition, code enforcement officials visited Hinton's rental house the same day as the raid, records show. Chitwood said he called code enforcement because there was trash in the backyard and an all-terrain vehicle and a pickup was parked next to the front door and in the yard, respectively. Code enforcement director Hector Garcia said Hinton was also cited for failing to obtain a permit to replace his front door after it was kicked in by police. "He could have gotten the permit early that day (the day of the raid), or the next day after putting in the new door," Garcia said.

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